A huge outflow of million of foreign portfolio investment from the country's equity market was witnessed during the week ended on October 23, 2009. "The prevailing law and order situation and terrorists' attacks in different cities of the country shook the offshore investors' confidence and they turned net sellers of shares after 12 weeks", one analyst said.
The foreign investors sold shares worth $32.1 million and bought shares worth $24.8 million resulting in net selling of $7.321 million during the week. They turned net sellers after 12 weeks for the first time since the week ending on Jul 31, 2009.
Mutual funds also were net sellers of shares worth $8.3 million. However, buying interest was seen from individual investors and companies, and they remained net buyers of shares worth $5.6 million and $6.7 million respectively. According to National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL) data, the week started on a positive trend with a net inflow of $740.274 of foreign portfolio investment on Monday.
However, deteriorating law and order situation in the country effected offshore investors' confidence and a huge outflow of $6,438,649 was recorded on Tuesday. The negative trend continued with an outflow of $2,782,312 on Wednesday and $2,313,029 on Thursday. However, the situation improved slightly with an inflow of $3,471,983 on Friday.